commit to anything. He said he's going to stop by in a few weeks for a checkup, so you need to wow him. But even if he gives us more, it’ll only buy us some time. To keep this project viable, we need more irons in the fire. It’s not good to have only one source of funding.”
“Agreed. So how do we do this?”
“I will show you. Take a few days to get Min settled. Then you and I need to focus on getting us some more money.”
“Understood.”
Chapter 7 - The Interview
“If you're having fun being yourself and filming something that you would watch yourself, it becomes contagious for other people to watch, too.” - Zoe Sugg
Min entered her apartment. Sheila, her roommate, was sitting on the couch painting her toes. She was a knockout, from Australia even, which made her name more than appropriate.
“Hey babe,” Sheila said. “How’d it go?”
“Pretty good… I think. Actually, super good if I get it. The project is amazing, one of the best things I've ever seen. This is like a computer science major’s dream internship.”
“Tell me more, your geekiness.” Sheila was a medical student at the UConn Health Center. On the cafeteria bulletin board, she saw the ad posted for an internship and told Min about it. She didn’t like computers and didn’t understand Min’s fascination with them. But other than that one difference, they got along smashingly.
“I'd be helping out a bunch of scientists to watch this virtual world. They’ve built a complete ecosystem and have created a bunch of brand new creatures, and a…”
“Hold it! ‘Built creatures?’ What is this, Frankenstein’s family?”
“No,” Min chuckled. “Not real creatures. Computer creatures. Like things living inside the computer. They call them Spherians because they exist inside a Sphere. There are a bunch of types of Spherians, but the extra intelligent ones are called Polyans.”
“Huh? You lost me.”
“It’s like earthlings and humans. Spherians and Polyans.”
“Okay, I get the names, but how’s this inside a computer?” Sheila asked.
Min puckered up her lips, searching for the words to describe it. She wasn't adept at speaking ‘layman.’
“Listen, why don’t I just show you? I filmed the interview.”
Her roommate was used to this. Min was a gadget freak, and her ‘spy glasses’ were her favorite. She picked them up years ago from spygear.com and had been wearing them ever since. They looked like ordinary thick-rimmed glasses, which just happened to be in style these days. But hidden in the frame on one side was a miniature camera capable of filming up to two hours of compressed video footage.
Min took off her glasses, plugged a cable into them, and hooked the other end to the TV. She put the glasses back on and sat facing the screen. It looked like her head was wired to the television, and she was about to do a brain dump, revealing her inner thoughts to the world. She picked up the remote and changed to input one. Then she pressed a concealed button on the inside of the frame of her glasses.
The screen showed a small windowless office with a plain wooden desk. Behind the desk sat a lean man with chiseled features and short curly dark hair. To one side, only half in view, stood a tall bookcase filled with imposing looking books and a shelf of blurry knickknacks. On the wall over the man hung posters of Carl Sagan, Bill Nye, and Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Sheila didn’t recognize any of them.
“So what attracted you to this position?” asked the man, with a slight accent. Probably French, but Sheila wasn’t sure.
“That’s Max,” said the real Min to Sheila.
“I've always loved computers,” answered Min in the video. “I especially like working with data. Not structured data like in databases, but seemingly random data like activity feeds. I love looking for patterns in the randomness, like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“That’s exactly what we need. What did you think of my
“Agreed. So how do we do this?”
“I will show you. Take a few days to get Min settled. Then you and I need to focus on getting us some more money.”
“Understood.”
Chapter 7 - The Interview
“If you're having fun being yourself and filming something that you would watch yourself, it becomes contagious for other people to watch, too.” - Zoe Sugg
Min entered her apartment. Sheila, her roommate, was sitting on the couch painting her toes. She was a knockout, from Australia even, which made her name more than appropriate.
“Hey babe,” Sheila said. “How’d it go?”
“Pretty good… I think. Actually, super good if I get it. The project is amazing, one of the best things I've ever seen. This is like a computer science major’s dream internship.”
“Tell me more, your geekiness.” Sheila was a medical student at the UConn Health Center. On the cafeteria bulletin board, she saw the ad posted for an internship and told Min about it. She didn’t like computers and didn’t understand Min’s fascination with them. But other than that one difference, they got along smashingly.
“I'd be helping out a bunch of scientists to watch this virtual world. They’ve built a complete ecosystem and have created a bunch of brand new creatures, and a…”
“Hold it! ‘Built creatures?’ What is this, Frankenstein’s family?”
“No,” Min chuckled. “Not real creatures. Computer creatures. Like things living inside the computer. They call them Spherians because they exist inside a Sphere. There are a bunch of types of Spherians, but the extra intelligent ones are called Polyans.”
“Huh? You lost me.”
“It’s like earthlings and humans. Spherians and Polyans.”
“Okay, I get the names, but how’s this inside a computer?” Sheila asked.
Min puckered up her lips, searching for the words to describe it. She wasn't adept at speaking ‘layman.’
“Listen, why don’t I just show you? I filmed the interview.”
Her roommate was used to this. Min was a gadget freak, and her ‘spy glasses’ were her favorite. She picked them up years ago from spygear.com and had been wearing them ever since. They looked like ordinary thick-rimmed glasses, which just happened to be in style these days. But hidden in the frame on one side was a miniature camera capable of filming up to two hours of compressed video footage.
Min took off her glasses, plugged a cable into them, and hooked the other end to the TV. She put the glasses back on and sat facing the screen. It looked like her head was wired to the television, and she was about to do a brain dump, revealing her inner thoughts to the world. She picked up the remote and changed to input one. Then she pressed a concealed button on the inside of the frame of her glasses.
The screen showed a small windowless office with a plain wooden desk. Behind the desk sat a lean man with chiseled features and short curly dark hair. To one side, only half in view, stood a tall bookcase filled with imposing looking books and a shelf of blurry knickknacks. On the wall over the man hung posters of Carl Sagan, Bill Nye, and Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Sheila didn’t recognize any of them.
“So what attracted you to this position?” asked the man, with a slight accent. Probably French, but Sheila wasn’t sure.
“That’s Max,” said the real Min to Sheila.
“I've always loved computers,” answered Min in the video. “I especially like working with data. Not structured data like in databases, but seemingly random data like activity feeds. I love looking for patterns in the randomness, like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“That’s exactly what we need. What did you think of my
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